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Topic: Questions for the Devs. (Read 109464 times)

This thread is for questions currently not answered by the FAQ. Please feel free to post whatever you like and they will be periodically added to the first post and the original posts deleted to keep the thread tidy. Once we have an official answer they will be moved to the FAQ. If it’s an idea you have then please post it in the Wish List thread. Some questions we can guess the answer too and they will be here in blue.

If you see a wrong answer or an update then please post it in this thread too.

The idea for this thread is not my own but came from a member of another community in a galaxy far far away.

1) What are the system requirements (minimum and recommended)?At the demo it was running on a laptop so most likely the specs won’t be too high.

2) Can you save your game and how does it work?With no official information at hand, the current understanding is that saving in Spore will work similarly to Sims: that is, there will be an option to save one's progress, but there will only be one slot available per creature (think Diablo II). Archival/multiple savegames will most likely not be part of the game.

3) Is there a monthly fee? Spore is a single player game which takes its data from an online "library" which consists solely of player data. So while perhaps one of the most important aspects of Spore is how everything is basically player-created and designed (for the most part), it is not an MMO therefore it is unlikely that a monthly fee will be charged after you buy the game.

4) Can you control one creature all the way through all the stages?Probably not it would be nice though if this was possible. Sort of like a leader creature.

5) Can you give individual creatures names?Unlikely especially if you end up with thousands of worlds colonised with your creations.

6) Can you cheat?The situation on cheats is in the dark too. Previous Maxis games have all had cheats; although how this will work with an automated online database of creatures is unknown - Creatures having unfair advantages over others may unbalance the game of those not cheating.

7) Who owns my creature?It's almost guaranteed that all creative output from Spore will be owned by EA one way or another.

8) What happens when you die?Unknown at this time. Once you hit the tribal stage though you are controlling several creatures and death of individual creatures probably doesn’t have a huge impact (unless you start losing them en masse).

9) Can my creature live underground?There has been nothing to suggest this yet.

10) Will we be able to choose abilities or behaviour patterns for our creatures, like venom or hibernation?There doesn't seem to be an option for Abilities in the creature editor, and it could potentially unbalance the game. As a balance issue, we can only wait and see what the Spore team decides.

11) Will there would be any variance between individual members of a species? Perhaps small changes in colouring, size, or specific markings?Judging by the screenshot of the tribal stage, the members of a given species only differ in size, which most likely is an indicator for age. Individualization is one of Will Wright's biggest points however, so it's not totally out of the picture. The question of how hard it is to implement is the pivotal issue in this.

12) Are the items customizable? Can you actually go into their properties, or is it just their appearance that can be changed? How well could the game handle the animations of animals interacting with your custom made objects?Unsure on this one. Everything else in the game seems to be either created or generated by the computer dynamically, which implies they are. In the demonstration the UFO was used to visit another sentient species, who where wielding tridents; this seems to indicate a certain level of customizability in the items. As for custom properties, this is again mostly conjecture and no small amount of wishful thinking. It can't be ruled out, but as it is not a confirmed part of the game, I wouldn't get hyped up about it.

13) Can you design your own government?

14)Will there be expansion packs?The general consensus is yes based on past history of Maxis games.

15) Will there be space stations?

16) Will there be Fleets or One Ship?

17) Will it be available on Apple Mac? Most of Maxis's other games are (Sims & Sim add-ons, Sim City etc), and we hope that this one is.

18) Will you be able to choose how your creatures sound? Will they all squeak like in the demo, or can they growl, bleep, howl, chirp, chatter etc.

2. Will other civilizations come and abduct your animals or ruin your tribal village if you are not up to the age yet?

3. Can you grow crops in tribal or city age?

4. Can vehicles do more than one thing? Such as an airplane that can land in the water (or go underwater) or cars that can take flight?

5. If you can make objects can you make a statue in the shape of your civ's creature?

6. Will there be mining? lumber chopping? or other such gathering natural resources during tribal or civ age?

7. Can you trade goods with other civs on your planet or other planets?

8. Will there be cold polar planets?

9. Will there be tarpits?

10. Can you use the same base species to make a tree of different species from it? Such as from a common amphibian ancestor created reptiles like crocodiles, turtles, lizards and snakes as well as dinosaurs to birds or mammal-like reptiles to mammals?

2. Will other civilizations come and abduct your animals or ruin your tribal village if you are not up to the age yet? no

3. Can you grow crops in tribal or city age? don't know

4. Can vehicles do more than one thing? Such as an airplane that can land in the water (or go underwater) or cars that can take flight? don't know

5. If you can make objects can you make a statue in the shape of your civ's creature? don't see why not

6. Will there be mining? lumber chopping? or other such gathering natural resources during tribal or civ age? don't know

7. Can you trade goods with other civs on your planet or other planets? maybe

8. Will there be cold polar planets? don't see why not

9. Will there be tarpits? don't know

10. Can you use the same base species to make a tree of different species from it? Such as from a common amphibian ancestor created reptiles like crocodiles, turtles, lizards and snakes as well as dinosaurs to birds or mammal-like reptiles to mammals? it is my assumption that you will not be able to play more than one species at a time and cannot go back and play the same creature farther back in time.

Pretty sure the answer to question 2 is no. I believe it was asked in one of the interviews by Steve.Once you get to tribal stage it's you vs. other cultures of your species.

The answer is that there can only be one sentient species on a planet (I guess other species can become sentient on other planets) but as you said you can be fighitng amongst tribes of your own species.

1. Is there a limit to how many time you alter your animal before saving up for a brain? Or if you do not save for a brain you may never achive sentience?

2. I saw in the video the small one legged rabbit creatures hopped. Can you get other two legged creatures or more to hop? Say i make a kangaroo with two legs. Will it hop or will it walk with one fot and then the other like a human?

3. Can creatures evolve back to the water afte having come up on land like whales did?

4. In the video i say that the ameboa, sea monster and willosaurus all laid eggs. Can you have live young like most mammals and some sharks or snakes?

5. Can you make a creature with no legs like a snake or an earthworm? (sorry if this has already been answered i could not find it.)

6. Will there be parasite or symbotic creatures? Like remoras on the sides of sharks or oxpecker birds on the backs of rhinos?

7. In the video where they are with the sea monster there are little shimp creatures swimming around. It looked like they had lights on them. Do you think its is bio-luminesene or are just telling the sea monster these creatures are edable?

It's a Will Wright game... it's almost guaranteed there will be expansion packs! As much of a video gaming genius the guy is, the one thing you can be certain he will do is milk a genre to death with expansion packs and the like. Expect lots.

It's a Will Wright game... it's almost guaranteed there will be expansion packs! As much of a video gaming genius the guy is, the one thing you can be certain he will do is milk a genre to death with expansion packs and the like. Expect lots.

2. Will other civilizations come and abduct your animals or ruin your tribal village if you are not up to the age yet?

3. Can you grow crops in tribal or city age?

4. Can vehicles do more than one thing? Such as an airplane that can land in the water (or go underwater) or cars that can take flight?

5. If you can make objects can you make a statue in the shape of your civ's creature?

6. Will there be mining? lumber chopping? or other such gathering natural resources during tribal or civ age?

7. Can you trade goods with other civs on your planet or other planets?

8. Will there be cold polar planets?

9. Will there be tarpits?

10. Can you use the same base species to make a tree of different species from it? Such as from a common amphibian ancestor created reptiles like crocodiles, turtles, lizards and snakes as well as dinosaurs to birds or mammal-like reptiles to mammals?

In response to these questions I PREDICT-

1a. Probably, eventually.1b. Same as 1a1c. It all depends on what a body part has to have to be considered a "head" you can have as many eyes and mouths you can afford, so I'm guessing you can have as many as you want.1d. There will be no invertabrates (look at the 1st part of the interview on this site) but you can maniplulate the ribcage in size to incluude 2 different "sections".1e. Probably not. Depending on what kind of mouth your animal has, it will be either a carnivore, omnivore, or herbivore.1f. You will be able to customize the textures, but no one is sure how they will make that work yet.1g. Wright said that there may not be "special features" in the game. Although it could change.1h. I'm guessing not, unless the trees can get really big. I guess you could make their buildings LOOK like trees, so voila, you have arboreal critters.1i. None of the seas I saw in the demo looked deep enough for that to happen. EDIT: BUT I did see a little jellyfish-looking thing in the demo that looked like it had a light on it's head, maybe that's bioluminescense..?1j. I think creatures are able to evolve without eyes, but I'm not sure how Spore would make that work either.1k. If it's not in the origional game, someone will make compound eyes themselves.1l. Again, special features are not part of the game right now.

2. No, other creatures will not even advance to the UFO era until you get them really pissed off. Like blowing up one of their cities or blowing up their sun.

3. No idea. You might be able to if your animal is an herbivore.

4. Maybe if you put more than one type of movement device on one vehicle. (i.e. a car with wheels and a helicopter blade)

5. I'm sure if you work hard enough you can make a building shaped like your creature.

6. Not sure, we'll have to wait and see.

7. That's what 'Diplomacy' is all about. You can mkae other tribes not kill you by sending gifts.

8. Of course, you saw one if you've seen the GDC demo.

9. Maybe, on certain planets.

10. Umm.. I'm guessing no. EDIT: BUT you can choose to download similar species from the superdatabase to populate your planet. For example you start with a lizard and want snakes, crocs, turtlles, etc. Just find those other animals on the internet. I think the game will even do it for you if you like. Or maybe you'll just make those other animals you need. Who knows...

10. Umm.. I'm guessing no. EDIT: BUT you can choose to download similar species from the superdatabase to populate your planet. For example you start with a lizard and want snakes, crocs, turtlles, etc. Just find those other animals on the internet. I think the game will even do it for you if you like. Or maybe you'll just make those other animals you need. Who knows...

In reply to my earlier question about Spore coming out for the Mac, I'll repeat something I've posted elsewhere on this forum:-

I got a reply from WWright@maxis.com.I asked if there was any likelyhood of Spore being available for the Apple Mac.Seeing as that's the kind of computer that I use, that would be useful to me.He, or someone on behalf of him, replied: -

"Hopefully we can talk Aspyer into it."

Aspyr are the people who port all the Sims game to the Mac, all the recent Star Wars games, and Doom 3 - among other things. Seems in safe hands to me.